Psalms 73:19

73:19 How desolate they become in a mere moment!

Terrifying judgments make their demise complete!

Psalms 6:10

6:10 May all my enemies be humiliated and absolutely terrified!

May they turn back and be suddenly humiliated!

Psalms 30:5

30:5 For his anger lasts only a brief moment,

and his good favor restores one’s life.

One may experience sorrow during the night,

but joy arrives in the morning.


tn Heb “they come to an end, they are finished, from terrors.”

tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist concludes his prayer with an imprecation, calling judgment down on his enemies.

tn Heb “and may they be very terrified.” The psalmist uses the same expression in v. 3 to describe the terror he was experiencing. Now he asks the Lord to turn the tables and cause his enemies to know what absolute terror feels like.

tn Heb “for [there is] a moment in his anger, [but] life in his favor.” Because of the parallelism with “moment,” some understand חַיִּים (khayyim) in a quantitative sense: “lifetime” (cf. NIV, NRSV). However, the immediate context, which emphasizes deliverance from death (see v. 3), suggests that חַיִּים has a qualitative sense: “physical life” or even “prosperous life” (cf. NEB “in his favour there is life”).

tn Heb “in the evening weeping comes to lodge, but at morning a shout of joy.” “Weeping” is personified here as a traveler who lodges with one temporarily.